Wang Yu was overjoyed. He immediately opened the [Game Map], and sure enough, it showed a welfare point 300 meters away.
"I finally found a welfare point."
Wang Yu was about to ride Big Cat over to check it out when he suddenly realized that this welfare point was bound to be dangerous. He stopped moving.
After thinking it over, he climbed down from Big Cat's back and had him walk ahead toward the welfare point 300 meters away. Wang Yu followed behind Big Cat, holding a torch in one hand and an entrenching tool in the other.
Having Big Cat scout ahead was undoubtedly the best choice he could make right now. If they encountered danger, he would have time to react. Even though Big Cat was dangerous, it was much better for him to face danger than for Wang Yu to do so.
Cat in front, man behind, they crept forward. Wang Yu followed about two meters behind Big Cat, staying alert and watching his surroundings. He knew there had to be danger up ahead; he just didn't know what it was.
200 meters: nothing happened.
150 meters: nothing happened.
At around 100 meters, Wang Yu saw it. Up ahead, at the spot marked as a welfare point on the [Game Map], he saw three emerald-blue Light Spots.
What was giving off that faint glow? It was very strange. Stranger still, the Light Spots were more than ten meters off the ground.
Was that the welfare point? Seeing the Light Spots there, Wang Yu could naturally guess what they were.
Now that he'd spotted what he'd been searching for, Wang Yu became even more cautious. If he'd found the welfare point, where was the danger?
The danger was hidden in the Dark Night. There was no doubt about that.
What he lacked most right now was visibility and light. It was too dark all around him, and the torch he carried could illuminate only a limited area. It was hard to spot dangers lurking in the night.
Then an idea struck Wang Yu. If he didn't have enough light, he could just make more.
He had plenty of supplies.
So Wang Yu took out an Oil Lamp, lit it, and hung it beside the path. Then he and Big Cat continued forward, carefully covering about twenty meters before he took out another Oil Lamp, lit it, and hung it on a nearby tree. Wang Yu kept going, lighting an Oil Lamp every so often.
Damn it, if Wang Yu had enough Oil Lamps, he really would have lit up the entire wilderness. Unfortunately, he had only four.
When he was fifty meters from the welfare point, Wang Yu lit all four Oil Lamps.
The fifty meters ahead were still pitch-black. Wang Yu hadn't encountered any danger, either. He stopped. Since nothing had happened so far, there was no need to rush.
Wang Yu took some wood out of his Backpack and used stones to make a "Fire Basin." Then he built a big Fire Pit inside it.
With four Oil Lamps along the way and a big Fire Pit now burning, the area around them was much brighter for a Moment.
Wang Yu looked toward the spot fifty meters ahead, where the welfare point was, and continued forward.
Big Cat walked in front, while Wang Yu followed behind with the torch in hand. With the Fire Pit behind him, he had a way to retreat. He needed to find out what danger lay ahead.
After all, the unknown was the most frightening thing.
When he was only Thirty Meters from the welfare point, Wang Yu still hadn't encountered any danger, but he saw what was ahead.
A Big Tree, more than ten meters tall, stood in front of them. The three Light Spots were on its branches.
Fruit of the Birch Tree? Wang Yu guessed that the Big Tree was a Biqiu Tree, and that the welfare point was the three glowing spots on it—the tree's three fruits. He felt his guess was probably right.
But to get those three fruits, he would have to climb up and pick them.
So where was the danger? That was what Wang Yu wanted to know most right now.
Wang Yu thought it over and decided to head back, just in case.
First, he collected all four Oil Lamps along the way. Then, thirty meters from the Biqiu Tree, he hung them around the area.
He was desperately short on light in the Dark Night.
Then Wang Yu rebuilt a "Fire Basin" with stones and moved the burning firewood from earlier to a spot just thirty meters from the Biqiu Tree.
Wang Yu wanted to take things step by step. Since there was no danger at this distance, he would set up camp here and slowly push forward.
He continued onward, with Big Cat in front and himself behind.
They hadn't gone more than a few meters when Big Cat suddenly leaped, as if dodging something.
Only then did Wang Yu notice the Vines on the ground moving. Like living creatures, they lashed out at Big Cat. Fortunately, Big Cat was agile and dodged their sudden attack.
Wang Yu immediately backed away and told Big Cat to retreat as well. The Vine missed its first strike but continued lashing at Big Cat. At the same time, two other Vines on the ground began moving and coiled toward him.
The Vines on the ground could move? They could even attack Big Cat? Fortunately, he was incredibly nimble. With a few leaps between the Vines, he made it back to Wang Yu.
Wang Yu didn't linger, either. He kept retreating.
As expected, getting the welfare point wouldn't be easy. It seemed the Vines were protecting the "Fruit of the Birch Tree." Wang Yu retreated to the Fire Pit and saw that the Vines hadn't followed him.
This advance had paid off. He'd discovered a hidden danger. Fortunately, he'd been cautious enough to have Big Cat scout ahead; otherwise, he would definitely have been caught off guard by the Vines.
And it was only thanks to Big Cat's agility that he'd escaped their sudden attack.
By the Fire Pit, Wang Yu could clearly see the Vines writhing on the ground not far ahead. A few of them squirmed about, making his scalp tingle.
There seemed to be even more Vines farther away.
These Vines were thick, as thick as an adult's wrist. Climbing through them and up a tree more than ten meters tall to pick three fruits would probably be no easy task.
Wang Yu figured he needed to deal with the Vines on the ground first.
He wanted to test how strong they were. Since the Vines hadn't followed him, this area was temporarily safe, so he decided to probe them and retreat if he ran into danger.
Wang Yu and Big Cat advanced together. Big Cat's job was to draw the Vines' attention, while Wang Yu tested how dangerous they were.
Holding a torch in one hand and an entrenching tool in the other, Wang Yu had only walked a few meters when the Vines began thrashing violently, as if ready to attack him at any moment.
Wang Yu kept moving forward.
The Vines moved. Some attacked Big Cat, while others attacked Wang Yu. Wang Yu had Big Cat move along the edge, while he probed the Vines from there as well.
A Vine lashed toward Wang Yu. As he dodged, he swung his entrenching tool at it in retaliation.
"Holy crap!"
The Vine was incredibly strong. Wang Yu's hand went numb from the impact, and he nearly lost his grip on the entrenching tool.
But what was even harder to accept was that the Vine hadn't been injured by the entrenching tool at all. It hadn't even left a mark.
He'd wanted to test how tough the Vines were, but he hadn't expected them to be so hard.
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